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~shoebx

I take the slip of paper containing the script, putting it in my pocket.

This sounds really interesting, thanks a lot, I didn't know about that part of the city. I can see some really nice uses out of it :D

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~inquiry wrote (thread):

"I" get tired of limited/limiting i-dentity.

Mind warp time: actually, "I" got tired of i-dentity long ago, noting the burden of decision/choice "kills me", which is kind of funny because "I"/"me" is/am the pseudo entity so hell bent on being a possessor of free will, such that, in effect, the seeming possessor of free will winds up deader by its own choice of being able to choose....

I think that is how/why I became so fascinated by the book "The Diceman" (Luke Rhinehart) what now seems like eons ago.

In fact, interest bubbled up a couple weeks ago, leading to this Lua script (I named it "decide"), which takes a set of choices and randomly picks/"chooses" one:

#! /usr/bin/env lua
function one_to(max)
  local popen = io.popen('od -vAn -N4 -tu4 < /dev/random')
  local n = popen:read('*l')
  popen:close()
  n = string.gsub(n, '%s+', '')
  n = tonumber(n)
  if max then
    local max = tonumber(max)
    if max then
      n = n % max + 1
    end
  end
  return n
end
local choices = {}
print('Enter choices:')
while true do
  io.stdout:write(#choices+1 .. ') ')
  local choice = io.stdin:read('*l')
  if choice then
    table.insert(choices, choice)
  else
    break
  end
end
print('\n=== ' .. choices[one_to(#choices)])

(In case it's not obvious, Ctrl-d while inputting choices is what ends the input loop.)

(Yes, I know my code is maddening for being sans comments and/or empty lines, but I've explained why elsewhere, and just don't feel like explaining it again in this moment.)

So now when "I" don't want to be burdened with having to make a decision, I can let /dev/random "decide" for me!

This has me wondering if (per a Midnight Pub interaction I had with another patron on the notion of "RPG") there might be even greater freedom in developing a bunch of characters to "be", let /dev/random pick one from time to time, and rigorously play/"be" that character...? I mean literally "in real life"....? Might that end the burden of i-dentity/selfhood/individuality?

So... instead of giving the above script (or one like it) a list of things to do, I give it a list of characters to "be", and then run the script from time to time to know "who" to "be"....?

(Alternatively, building the characters into the script, complete with detailed character attribute descriptions so "I"'m reminded how to play/perform given roles...?)

(NOTE: "I"'m not saying I invented this idea. For all "I" know it's been around plenty long and "I"'m just slow to the party, as it were....)

Hmmm....

Of course, being married, what I really need to do is get my wife interested in doing the same, otherwise she'll wind up thinking I'm even more batshit crazy than she already does....

Anyway... thanks for stoking delightful thoughts along these lines!